Announcement

An eight ender, also called a snowman, is a perfect score within a single end of curling. They are extremely rare and the OCA has a special award to recognize any game where it occurs.

Because of the number of variables, including the skill of four teammates and four opponents, it is almost as difficult to calculate the odds of an 8-ender as it is to achieve one. Luckily a curling zone post by Biterbar in April of 2016 takes a stab at it by proposing that it might be possible to figure it out by dividing the number of 8-enders by the number of ends played. To illustrate his math, he used 193 OCA Clubs with an average of 4 sheets each with 10 draws a week to come up with approximately 185,280 games in a year. He then took the (57) 8-enders that were recorded in 2015 and determined that the 8-ender rate would be about 3 in 10,000 – so close to zero that it would be similar to the probability of an 8-ender in any particular game. Furthermore, because 8-enders are random, he proposed that you could expect to wait as many as 6000 to 9000 games before it would happen which nestled the feat amongst other improbabilities such as being struck by lightning ( 1 in 5,000) and a Hole in One ( 1 in 12,000).

With big smiles, Team Clendenan is proud to report that they have added this accomplishment to their season but also noteworthy is that they went undefeated at the U18 PQ “C” Qualifiers where their 8-ender occurred and thus secured a 1st place berth to Provincials in the process.